SSA watching private airstrips in crime fight, Ntshavheni tells MPs

The government is conducting security assessments at aerodromes and private airstrips as some of them are suspected of being used for illicit activities such as arms, drugs and human trafficking.

This is according to Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, minister in the presidency responsible for the affairs of the State Security Agency (SSA), who was responding to oral questions in parliament on Wednesday with other ministers in the peace and security cluster.

Ntshavheni told MPs that since the beginning of the 2025/26 financial year in April, multidisciplinary law enforcement agencies, led by the SSA, have had private airstrips on their radar as part of the government’s strategy to tackle serious and organised crime.

“In pursuit of our mandate as SSA and in support of the department of transport we conduct continuous airport security risk assessments, and this covers all public airports and private airports.

“This work has been extended from this financial year to cover aerodromes or small airports or airfields, so we can cover our mandate to deal with the concerns raised by the member,” she said.

Ntshavheni was responding to a question by MP Mzwanele Manyi, chief whip of the official opposition in the National Assembly, the MK party.

Cross-border crime

Manyi wanted to know what measures the SSA had put in place since 2018 to probe and respond to the proliferation of private airstrips, which he said were suspected of aiding “cross-border illicit activities”.

He also asked Ntshavheni to explain how many “unregistered or lightly regulated” airstrips the SSA was aware of.

“If these suspicious [airstrips] are being kept under surveillance then how do you explain the ongoing smuggling of drugs, human trafficking, proliferation of firearms and ammunition, endangered wildlife and foreign currency through these strips?

“All without a single interception detected by the SSA. Could it be that the infamous Phala Phala dollars also entered through these routes, in these airstrips, given that Sars customs through all official airports have no records of these transactions? Are we to conclude, minister, that your agency has failed to detect these threats, or [that] elements of the state are complicit?” Manyi asked.

Ntshavheni did not fall for the Phala Phala trap in her reply to Manyi’s question.

“As we have indicated, we’ve extended the security risk assessment to aerodromes to deal with that concern. However, monitoring the airspaces which the member is referring to [is the responsibility of] the SANDF, [via] the air force.”

DA MP Diane Kohler Barnard, who has extensive experience as a legislator in the security cluster, indicated there were at least 400 public and private airports, airstrips and landing strips.

“On the whole they cater to local communities, private businesspeople and aviation enthusiasts. There are among those airstrips [those] that are used under the radar to drop off drugs, move kidnap victims or live animals.

“However, most of these strips are used legitimately for tourists to get to game farms, for medical transport, so is the SSA, hopefully, working in tandem with crime intelligence, targeting those strips used for criminal activity while clearing those that aren’t?

“I fear the SSA will do what they do tend to do, which is block any use by anyone in case there’s some criminal use. Is that the case and if not, what is the risk level?” she asked.

The minister replied that it was not the SSA’s responsibility to decide who could operate a private airstrip. Their job was to conduct security assessments on behalf of the licensing authorities.

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